大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sarah Cooper at the AGC Museum on behalf of Peter Moody and has been added to the site with his permission. Peter Moody fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

It was during this period that I was to be evacuated again. This time it was to be with mum. This decision taken by the family must have been on their own initiative - for how we came to get a small terraced cottage on the sea wall at Whitstable, I'll never know. But still we did!

There was mum, Ron Beryl, David and myself. The cottage had little furniture and was next door to a small boatyard. At the front of the cottage the pavement was higher than the road, and the cottages facing across that road were lower than ours were. There was a lovely fish and chip shop. I know that when Dad came to see us he was always singing their praises. One of the reasons for this was that they used eggs to make the batter.

The first night in the cottage was spent under the stairs due to a heavy air raid. We spent Christmas there. I can remember Ron running in from the beach on Christmas Day claiming that a Messerschmitt had swept low over the beach.

Beryl and I were always playing on the beach. There was no schooling. How we two are here today I can't begin to think. I know that one day we found a very large shell - it could have been a bomb, lying on the beach. We sat astride it and it had a small dial under glass, which was partly broken. I know our fingers poked into it. When the tide was out we could see a crashed bomber aircraft in the sea. We did not know whether it was one of ours or a German one.

I know we had several long walks in the afternoon to the Castle - this turned out to be the Council offices! They took the decision that we were not in a safe area therefore, not suitable for evacuees. So we had to return to London. It was while we were in Whitstable that I bought for the last time my favourite toffee bars - the thickness and length of a mans finger, they were four for a penny. They were called Gollywog bars made either by Sharps or Bluebird.

On our return to London, I found that we had moved from Downham Way to Glenbow Road. Dad had made grounds-man of the playing field and we had moved into the grounds-man's house. Mr. Fuller the previous grounds-man had joined the Air Force. So back to the blitz again and although the shelter in the garden was dry, we still got "under the table" - an extremely stressful time especially if mum and dad had slipped out for an hour or two in the evening and an air raid started. They could not always get back home quickly and I was left to look fter Ron, Beryl and David. David was not always the happiest of babies - always losing his dummy and crying! Ron never wanted to do as you asked and very often there would be an anti-aircraft gun outrside on a lorry blasting away.

I must tell you of an occasion which happened during an air raid. David kept on and on wanting his dummy. We were all looking for it as David had a habit of hiding it. Mum had given up the search and went into the kitchen to make a pot of tea, when she poured the tea into the cups each had a coat of rubber like substance floating on top, the teat had been in the kettle and had dissolved. I can't think why we only had one bottle teat in the house at one time, but it does show how short money was in those days - there was no Family Allowance of course.

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